Need, Greed, or Pass - Hard Reset

At first glance, you'll probably think that Hard Reset is a high budget game made by a big developer like Valve or Crytek. In reality, the game is made by an indie developer called Flying Wild Hog. The demo opens with an animated comic strip that attempts to set up the world, time period, and why your character is there. After watching the intro sequence three times now, I still don't fully understand some of the finer details. The basic premise is that you are a member of the Corporation, a sort of police force tasked with protecting the Sanctuary from the Machines; which are sentient robots that are attempting to evolve their AI to a higher point. It sounds confusing I know, but I wonder if events are explained more clearly in the full game. Toward the end of the intro, your character, Fletcher, is sent out to investigate a fresh murder scene. You are then tasked with scouting the area and finding the Machine killers.

Visually, Hard Reset is simply gorgeous, with towering buildings, flying cars, and advertisements everywhere you look. Even though the game is set in the year 2436, the smaller buildings look distinctly modern while still being advanced enough to fit in such a futuristic setting. Aside from the environments, the weapons, enemies, props, and effects are all equal to that of a large development studio.

Unfortunately, the sound, while still good, does not hold the same consistent quality that visuals do. Weapon and environment sounds are solid at all times, with punchy gunshots, interesting enemy sounds, and subtle ambiance. The voice acting is much more hit and miss though, with well performed dialog in the introductory cutscene, but bland and uninteresting during gameplay. Hopefully the gameplay voice acting improves over the course of the full game.

Speaking of gameplay, Hard Reset is moderately challenging on Normal difficulty. The demo starts you off with only one small Machine to destroy and two weapons. The first weapon is a standard machine gun that shoots at a very satisfying speed, while the other appears more alien in design, and fires orbs of energy. Personally, I found that the energy gun was significantly weaker than the normal machine gun; so I hardly used it. Each weapon has one 200 round clip, and ammo is easy to come by once you begin destroying larger numbers of machines. If you do run out of ammo though, it will slowly regenerate so long as you don't fire. The Machines themselves will ruthlessly pursue you once they spot you, and can easily overwhelm you with their sheer numbers.

To help thin the crowds quickly, various environmental objects can be destroyed to create large explosions or electricity to shoot out and short circuit the machines. Along with with ammo and health pickups from defeated enemies, you will also collect credit chips that can be used to upgrade your weapons. To use them, you'll need to find an Upgrade Terminal. Upgrade Terminals allow you to enhance your current weapons, or add attachments, such as a shotgun or grenade launcher, to them to make them more versatile. You can also upgrade your armor with the ability to enter a slow-motion state when your health is critical, among other things.

Aside from the rather confusing story and the weak gameplay voice acting, Hard Reset appears to be an excellent game for anyone who enjoys First-Person Shooters or independent games. It is with that said that I classify Hard Reset as a Need!

Dragon Age 2 Demo Impressions

Written 2/23/2011

Note: Screenshots and video taken from my machine.

Dragon Age 2 is nearly upon us, and I, for one, am excited! Rather, I was excited already, but now that I’ve played the demo, I’m REALLY excited and simply cannot wait to get my hands on the full game! If you’ve been reading my Dragon Age Origins and Awakening reviews, you will have surely seen the somewhat slow and methodical pace of the combat. I’m not saying it was bad by any stretch, but it did become tedious after a while; unless a particular fight was tactically difficult.

Dragon Age 2’s combat is much faster and more chaotic. Whenever this was first revealed I, like many others, worried that the game would no longer feel like Dragon Age due to the faster, more action oriented style. Luckily, this is the farthest thing from the truth. Considering that one of the recurring themes of Dragon Age is blood, the combat of Dragon Age 2 allows for much more copious amounts of it than Origins could ever hope to achieve. Skills are a great deal more fun to use in Dragon Age 2, and equally as powerful.

The visual style in Dragon Age 2 has also taken on more of paint-brushed look without sacrificing any necessary realism, and it looks fantastic! Sound is equally as stellar, especially since Hawke, the main character, is now fully voiced over along with the rest  of the cast. I do hope that the voice-acting volume is increased in the full game though, as it’s very quite in the demo. The story seems to take place in the very beginning of the game, or shortly thereafter. It doesn’t reveal too much, but does give a good glimpse into the main plot and a few of your party members. Conversations feel much more natural as well with the addition of the Mass Effect dialog wheel.

With all of that said, I did experience a few crashes during my experiments with the other classes, but I’m sure Bioware will have those issues fixed by the time the full game is released. Frame rate also stutters from time to time, but it’s not a massive issue either. Again, I’m sure it’ll be fixed by the full release. So if you have the game pre-ordered already or not, you should definitely try the demo. Especially since finishing the demo unlocks additional items in the full game. You can grab the demo from the official Dragon Age 2 site or FilePlanet.

Dragon Age 2 Demo Impressions:

Crysis 2 Demo Impressions

Written 3/2/2011

Note: This review is for the PC version of the demo. Screenshot and video taken from my machine.

The original Crysis was without doubt the best looking, as well as most system intensive, game of the past five years or so. Not only was it stunningly beautiful, the inclusion of the Nano-Suit and all the powers that came with it basically guaranteed a great gameplay experience. Soon though, we will be making our computers cry even harder as we attempt to run Crysis 2.

If you thought the original Crysis was beautiful, get ready to change your definition of beauty. The Crysis 2 demo is absolutely, unequivocally gorgeous! That speaks multiple volumes, because this is a multiplayer demo! If anything needed to be stripped out of the single-player campaign visually or if Crytek is holding back some of the eye-candy in this demo, I simply cannot wait to see what the full game looks like. This vast visual improvement is thanks to Crytek’s new CryEngine 3. On a somewhat unrelated note, some videos I’ve seen of the CryEngine 3 creation tools make the game seem stupidly easy to mod for. If that’s the case, I’m very much looking forward to what I and other modding hobbyists/indie developers can come up with. The sound in the demo is also top-notch, and almost equal the quality of the visuals.

Gameplay-wise, the demo will feel familiar to those who have played the original Crysis and/or Black Ops or Modern Warfare 2. It’s much faster paced than the Crysis Wars multiplayer, and more focused. The main differences are in how your Nano-Suit functions and the inclusion of Suit Abilities. In the original Crysis, your Nano-Suits Armor power was always on by default, and never drained your suit’s power unless you were being shot. In the Crysis 2 demo, your Strength and Speed powers are not selectable, but activate automatically when I need to jump high or run fast. Your Armor power must also be toggled on now, and drain your suit’s power in the same way your Stealth power does. This can take some getting used to, especially if you’ve played the original Crysis. I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to turn on my Armor power because I just assumed it was automatically on. The Stealth power seems infinitely more useful in Crysis 2 multiplayer than in Crysis Wars, and it is now entirely possible to stalk your enemies without them ever noticing. Suit Abilities are basically the Crysis version of Perks in Black Ops. They can range from simple weapon efficiency abilities to more extravagant abilities like Power Slam, which has you jumping in the air and slamming your fist into the ground which causes a slight earthquake around you and kills anyone in range. It’s a difficult ability to use, but extremely satisfying if you land your mark.

The two maps you’ll be playing in the demo are Skyline and Pier 17. Skyline is set on a large New York City building rooftop, and is well thought out in its flow from interiors to exteriors. Pier 17 is the larger map set in a largely destroyed and abandoned ship dock, and shows how remaining cloaked to cross open areas can save your life more times than you may care to admit. Both maps also use vertical vantage points effectively, so make sure to look up while you’re also looking around. The maps also both work well for the demo’s available gametypes: Team Instant Action and Crash Site. Team Instant Action is exactly what you think it is, and is fun in the fact that it lets you freely kill other players with the awesome Nano-Suit powers. Crash Site is basically a team version of King of the Hill, but with the hill moving every two minutes or so. Both gametypes aren’t exactly the most original things in the world, but are still worth it for the simple fact that the Nano-Suit changes core FPS mechanics enough to breath new life into the same old same old.

In all, it’s a lot of fun, if you can actually connect to the game that is. The biggest issues by far are the terrible connectivity issues and a bug that refuses to start a match once you finally get a connection. First off, just accept that you’re going to lose connection to lobby servers a lot, but not in-game servers as much. Once you do get a solid connection though, prepare to sit in a server’s lobby and wait for the final countdown timer to reach its end, freeze, and start over again, and again, and again. This forces you to leave that lobby, even though you had a good connection, and start the whole process over again until you get lucky enough to land on a server that works. Once you do though, get ready to have a blast! Crysis 2 will be released on March 22 on PC, PS3, and 360. Let’s hope that the issues I’ve just mentioned can be resolved before then. If you think you can handle the frustration though, you can grab the demo from the official Crysis 2 site, or FilePlanet.

Crysis 2 Demo Impressions: